Elon Musk's online network X has provoked widespread outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for enabling users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
